Featuring performances by Team Building, Headband, and The Blazing Violets. Apr 13 (doors at 2pm, bands at 5pm). Black Dog Freehouse (10425-82 Ave). Admission by donation.
There’s no love lost between Splurgezine creator Devin McCawley and consumer culture—just look at his new zine’s sardonic title. But for all his subversive efforts, McCawley knows our society is set up in a way that makes it almost impossible to avoid consumerism. “As opinionated as we are, we are still consumers,” he says. “But any action is good action. [People] don’t have to label themselves hypocrites to witness.”
Which is exactly what Splurgezine aims to do: bear witness to the shortcomings of corporate and consumer culture.
Between Splurgezine’s covers lie several “subvertisements”—fake ads altered to seem real, à la Adbusters’ infamous ad parodies. The zine also features a section of fake classifieds (“subifieds”?) which offer derisive tidbits of scathing criticism: “REMOTE, IMPERSONAL West Edmonton Mall requires Dolphin impersonators to replace live ones which have died. 3 shows a day M-F, 4 shows on Saturday. Payment in halibut, cod, salmon. Free antibiotics.”
“If you laugh at these, what does that say about you?” McCawley says. But he’s quick to add that he wants his publication to be more than some kind of left-wing version of Cracked. Splurgezine’s other purpose is to light a fire under Edmonton’s zine scene, which McCawley feels “barely exists out in the open, where it should be.” Though many zines have come and gone over the years, McCawley thinks they haven’t exactly reflected well on zine culture. Ideally, he hopes Splurge will lead to the creation of more small presses.
“It’s so easy to put together a zine,” he explains. “It boggles my mind that more people don’t do it. You don’t need your own organization or press; all it takes is a little drive.... Twenty years ago, something of this quality would be almost impossible to achieve. Now, it’s too easy.”
It’s especially easy for McCawley, who was raised in the chapbook/zine culture: his father, Mark McCawley, started the Greensleeve Editions small press back in 1988. The micropress was dedicated to publishing subversive, transgressive literary items—you know, the ones outside the Governor-General’s Award-dominated, high school CanLit canon. Splurgezine’s publication marks the end of Greensleeve’s 15-year hiatus, and signals McCawley’s proud continuation of his family’s tradition.
For McCawley, being visible and active in the community is integral to a street publication’s audience. McCawley chose Edmonton Street News—the non-profit, donation-based zine project you can find being sold on street corners—as the main beneficiary for Splurgezine’s upcoming release party. McCawley supports ESN because, as he explains, it’s “written by the marginalized, for the marginalized.” He also notes that ESN is not receiving the attention it deserves, as it is now being pushed aside by yet another Edmonton street zine.
After the release, Splurgezine will be available for free online, or through the mail for the price of postage. It also has an ISSN number, so it will be available through the Edmonton Public Library system—an important inclusion for McCawley: “You go to school for an education,” he says, “but you go to the library to learn.”
The zine will (hopefully) be published quarterly, and McCawley is already accepting submissions—prose, poetry, photo essays, mock ads, and any type of subversion—for the second issue. Meanwhile, patrons can barter for a copy of the new zine at the party in one of three ways: a cash donation to Edmonton Street News; an article of warm clothing for the Bissell Centre; or a non-perishable food item for the Food Bank. Big Rock has also stepped up to help—for every pint of Big Rock beer sold at the party, $1 will go towards ESN.
